A sharp fall in the number of 16-year-olds taking up level two apprenticeships is being cited by some as the cause for a rise in people of that age who are not in education, employment or training. Provisional ‘participation’ figures for the year ending 2017 released by the Department for Education show that the proportion of 16-year-olds that are NEET has risen (0.7 percentage points to 3.9 per cent) for the first time since the end of 2011. Click here for more.